In stock
5 CD box
Roland KAYN
“Elektroakustische Projekte & Makro”
Great news for fans of electronic music: Reiger Records Reeks is set to release a new 5-CD box set dedicated to Roland Kayn’s Cybernetic Music. The collection is based on the original recordings from the Lydia and Roland Kayn Archive, which were sensibly remastered by Jim O’Rourke,
The box set includes the tracks from legendary opuses MAKRO I, II, III, created at the Institute for Sonology, and Elektroakustische Projekte, featuring works like Cybernetic I, II, and III, which were recorded at the Studio di Fonologia in Milan, alongside Entropy PE31, Monades, and Eon. These pieces – previously available only on rare out-of-print vinyl editions – highlight both Kayn’s innovative approach to musical structures and his significant impact on the development of electronic and cybernetic compositions.
Roland Kayn poetically described Makro (1977) during an interview with Mark van de Voort: “Makro breathes in and breathes out, then it breathes in again before disappearing into the dark.” This imagery emphasizes the delicate balance and subtle transition through which the piece unfolds and eventually fades. The idea of the music “disappearing into the dark” suggests a soft, elusive conclusion, as if the sounds gradually dissolve into a space where they can no longer be heard, but still linger in some way.
This description also synthesizes the mystical and organic qualities of the piece: the music doesn’t end abruptly, but transitions smoothly into silence, like a clear picture gradually turning into shadow. Kayn’s reflection that he was never able to fully recapture this unique quality in his later works shows how Makro – a composition where sound, process, and silence merge in a single entity – was a special creature for him.
66,00€
Out of stock
5 CD box
Iannis XENAKIS
“Electroacoustic Works”
2024 repress
The 5 CD box set „Electroacoustic Works“ celebrates the 100th anniversary of IANNIS XENAKIS (on May 29th, 2022), one of the most influential 20th century avantgarde composers. All tracks have been newly mixed by longtime zeitkratzer sound engineer MARTIN WURMNEST and mastered by RASHAD BECKER and finally reveal their full sonic range and dynamics. Booklet with English / German liner notes by REINHOLD FRIEDL (zeitkratzer) and rare photos from the Xenakis archive.
IANNIS XENAKIS (1922-2001) is one of the most important composers of the 20th century avantgarde whose influence on music can be traced to the present day – not only in the world of conservatory-trained composers but also in various streams of current non-academic underground aesthetics such as experimental electronic music, noise and industrial.
After he arrived in Paris in 1947, XENAKIS not only studied composition with MESSIAEN and later became a member of the famous GRM (Groupe de recherches musicales), he also worked as assistant to the famous architect LE CORBUSIER and realized a.o. the Philips Pavilion for the World Exhibition in Brussels 1958. His compositions often are based on mathematical principles which give his music an unprecedented aesthetic and “shocking otherness” (The Guardian).
Although XENAKIS also composed for orchestra (his most famous works are “Metastasis“, “Pithoprakta” and “Terretektorh”), electronic music became his way for exploring new ideas and concepts and to develop new techniques like a graphic interface for sound synthesis or later, when computers were easier accessible, his so-called "stochastic synthesis" (Gendy 3, S.709 > Disc V, Late Works).
XENAKIS’ first electroacoustic pieces (Disc I) like “Diamorphoses” or “Bohor” turned out groundbreaking works while the latter even caused, as MICHEL CHION put it, the “greatest scandal of electroacoustic music” on the occasion of its performance 1968 at the GRM in Paris.
His so-called „Polytopes“ (Discs II - IV) were overwhelming multimedia performances with especially designed architectures, laser and light shows etc. where sometimes up to several hundred loudspeakers were used to move the sounds in space. For example his most famous composition “Persepolis”, commissioned by the Persian Shah, premiered in 1971 in Shiraz-Persepolis (Iran) as a performance including light-tracks, laser beams, groups of children walking around with torches and 59 loudspeakers to project the music in an open-air situation.
The most radical aspects of sound can be found in Xenakis' late work and its merciless reduction to harsh, almost ruthless sound synthesis. In the early nineties, he devoted himself to the concept of a composing machine: a machine that designs everything independently and calculates the finished piece, the algorithm is the work.
For the first time, the complete electroacoustic works of XENAKIS are now available on record – the truly overdue testimony and legacy of a restless investigator and explorer of sound. Years of source studies and comparative research by zeitkratzer director REINHOLD FRIEDL, in collaboration with sound engineer MARTIN WURMNEST, made these critically reflected stereo mixes possible, which were appropriately mastered by RASHAD BECKER and which, in addition to the aspect of fidelity to the source, put the listener in the center. Xenakis' adventurous music can now finally be enjoyed in its full sonic range and dynamic.
To quote The Wire’s review from May 2018:
“This is the definitive Persepolis“
45,00€
Out of stock
5 CD box
Henning CHRISTIANSEN
“OP.176 Penthesilea”
A previously unreleased project of Henning Christiansen, monumental in scope, traversing years, countries and now, formats. The Henning Christiansen Archive is proud to finally present one of the crown jewels of the archive, the masterpiece ‘Penthesilea’ as a 2LP and 5CD set.
Pentheseila is one of the most ambitious works in the entire Henning Christiansen oeuvre. A large-scale work from the mid eighties based on the play of the same name by Heinrich von Kleist (1808). Both Henning and his widow, Ursula Reuter Christiansen, were enthusiastic about Kleist’s text, both making works around the themes within this portent text.
Henning Christiansen first developed a work around this text for the Rosenfest festival performed in Berlin in 1984. Rosenfest was curated by René Block and featured a variety of composers presenting works in response to Kleist’s work including Robert Ashley, “Blue” Gene Tyranny etc. Henning formulated a composition utilising tape, field recordings, voice, soprano, and violoncello alongside the home made instruments of Werner Durand.
The live presentation was then expanded upon and first performed two years later at Teatro Olímpico, Rome on the 8th November 1986 as directed by Carlo Quartucci. The two releases presented here include a 2 x vinyl LP of the Rosenfest recordings in 1984 and a 5CD set sharing the four and a half hour backing track prepared for the Teatro Olímpico performance in Rome in 1986. Together these two releases make up a substantial overview of one of the most significant works in the entire Christiansen canon.
45,00€
Out of stock
5 CD box
Roland KAYN
“Tektra”
The last five years have seen the reemergence of a towering figure of electronic music. Through multiple boxed set releases, and a dedicated Bandcamp page releasing unheard works at an unfaltering pace, the work of pioneering cybernetic composer Roland Kayn has reached a wider audience than ever before.
Now, a bedrock work in establishing this reputation is available once more, as Tektra, his overarching landmark work of the early 1980s, is finally restored to availability after decades out of print.
Reissued by Reiger Records Reeks – the composer’s own label, now presided over by his daughter Ilse – Tektra here unfolds across 5 CDs. The new edition was mastered by Jim O’Rourke from a transfer of the original tapes present in the Lydia and Roland Kayn Archive. It implements Kayn’s directions on crossfades and edits as fully as possible, while also reincorporating almost 5 minutes of music previously
unavailable in digital format.
Kayn’s glacial, otherworldly electronic landscapes have always been somewhat at odds with the world of contemporary composition his background and training located him within. His rejection of compositional dogma and traditional musical structures eventually led him to discover a source of endless inspiration in the cybernetic generation of material, and the curatorial act of listening itself.
Perhaps this is why Kayn’s recognition is only approaching its zenith today: his work is far from the passive, unobtrusive world of “ambient”, but its embrace of extended duration, drone-like textures, and the exploration of space as timbre are undeniable shared attributes. Today’s most forward-looking musical practitioners – many of whom cite Kayn as a direct influence – have perhaps discovered a similar territory, at
the threshold point where mindblowing complexity approaches the overwhelming sensation of true immersion.
55,00€
Out of stock
5 CD box
Morton FELDMAN
“Piano”
5-CD box set presenting virtually all of Morton Feldman'smusic for solo piano. Performed by Philip Thomas, who also writes a 52-page booklet that is included in the box.
Artwork by David Ainley
Philip Thomas, piano
40,00€
Out of stock
5 CD box
Michael PISARO
“Nature Denatured and Found Again”
Musicians:
Antoine Beuger (flute)
Jürg Frey (clarinet)
Marcus Kaiser (cello)
Radu Malfatti (trombone)
André Möller (electric guitar)
Kathryn Gleasman Pisaro (oboe/english horn)
Composition, field recording, sine tones, noise, mixing, mastering by Michael Pisaro
The piece is derived from field recordings made along the Grosse Mühl River, Neufelden, Austria, from 2011 to 2015 (during the flussaufwärts project created by Joachim Eckl, Marcus Kaiser and Michael Pisaro). Alongside the recordings of the river as it flows down from Neufelden to the Danube, are performances by Antoine Beuger, Jürg Frey, Marcus Kaiser, Radu Malfatti, André Möller, and Kathryn Pisaro. Pisaro has been working on the piece since 2011 and we are very happy to have it finally see the light of day.
The five discs come in an oversized box with cover art by Marcus Kaiser and Yuko Zama. The box set also includes a 24-page full-color booklet containing additional photos by Joachim Eckl, Marcus Kaiser, Emmanuelle Waeckerle, and Michael Pisaro, and liner notes by Michael Pisaro and Joachim Eckl.
65,00€